


Is that the cute barista?

by Lady_of_the_Rings



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Gay Panic, I did this instead of sleep, Overuse of italics, Rated T for some cussing, SLEEP? WHO NEEDS SLEEP?! NOT ME!, This is like my second fanfic ever be nice, band au, coffee shop AU, elmax - Freeform, no beta we die like women
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21969313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_of_the_Rings/pseuds/Lady_of_the_Rings
Summary: Max works at a dead-end coffee shop and Jane (aka Eleven the singer of Max's favorite band) shows up to order a latte.Goes about as well as you'd think.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Comments: 4
Kudos: 39





	Is that the cute barista?

**Author's Note:**

> Me: Imma start writing fanfic!  
> *two months later*  
> Me: I wrote two hundred words
> 
> Also me: Probably won't write anything new for a few weeks :)  
> *three hours later*  
> Me: I wrote this!!! I spent the last few hours writing and waiting for my computer to boot up CAUSE IT DECIDED IT NEEDED TO UPDATE LIKE RIGHT THEN AND THEN THE BATTERY DIED AND THEN I COULDN'T FIND THE CORD TO CHARGE IT BUT I MADE IT!!!!! I WROTE SOMETHING!
> 
> So... yeah. Enjoy. :)

Max is woken up by the blaring noise of her alarm clock. She groans loudly, flailing her arm as she slams down on the snooze button. She groans again. Today was going to be a long day.

She went through all the motions of waking up. Getting out of bed, eating some cereal that may or may not have been stale, brushing her teeth with a four-month-old tooth brush, pulling on some (hopefully) clean clothes, and taking the bus to work.

So basically the morning routine of every broke college student on spring break.

The coffee shop she worked at was one of those little small business ones trying painfully hard to be trendy. Barely anyone went there, and the few people who did just ordered it to-go and rushed off to their prior commitments.

Which was okay with Max. She didn't really get any tips, but she also only had to act like a functioning human being for short, five-minute bursts, which was exactly what she looked for in a job.

The coffee shop is predictably void of customers for the first half of the day, so she takes out a book to read. It's pretty bad, actually, an unoriginal sci-fi novel no plot, but it makes the day go by.

She's just on the last chapter when she hears the door open. A wave of heat comes through the open door, and Max is glad she works indoors where there's air conditioning.

“Good book?” comes a quiet female voice.

“Naw, not really,” Max replies, before she looks up from the book. And then she suddenly finds herself incapable of speaking.

The woman in front of her is beautiful. Like, _stunningly_ beautiful. Like, _I have only known you for five seconds but if you told me to jump out of an airplane without a parachute I'd do it,_ sort of beautiful.

Her hair is brown, just barely reaching her shoulders, and it looks  _so fucking soft Max just wants to reach out and touch it oh my god it cannot be that soft-_ Max reluctantly tears her eyes away from the woman's hair before she can notice how the afternoon sun shines on it making a fuzzy halo on her head-

But there's no way Max can even look at her without being tongue-tied. Her eyes are like chocolate, or maybe coffee after you've poured some cream in it. ( _God, Max, real original, you're in a fucking coffee shop for fuck's sake._ )  She's wearing an old band shirt of The Upside Down (wow and it's from Max's favorite band too is there no mercy in the world?) and some jean shorts, but for some reason she looks so _fucking good in it--_

_Nope,_ Max tells herself.  _Nope. Don't think about it. Act cool. Okay, stop staring at her._

“I-um-can I get you anything, sir?” Max manages to babble out. A few seconds later she realizes what she said and _oh fuck fuck shit did she just say sir?! What the fuck was wrong with her?!_

The woman stares at her for a moment. Then she bursts out laughing. Like, loud, uncontrollable giggling. And Max is standing there, mind blank. Was this woman laughing at her expense, or—no, it couldn't be—what if she actually thought Max was funny? 

The woman stopped laughing when she saw the look on Max's face. “Oh I'm so sorry I wasn't laughing at you I just--”

Max managed to kick her brain into gear long enough to say, “Oh no it's fine! I'm just really out of it today.”

The woman nodded. “Yeah, me too. Can I get an iced latte to go please? I'm kind of in a hurry.”

“Okay!” Max said, and she winced at her voice. It sounded way too chipper to be normal. “Name for the order?”

“Jane,” the woman said, smiling.

She made the coffee as quick as humanly possible, because she was  _not_ going to be the one holding up this lovely woman (Jane) no matter what.

She set the coffee down. “That'll be 3.50 please.”

The woman nodded and handed over the money. As she reached for her coffee, however, Max noticed a tattoo on her arm.  **011** .

“Wait...” Max says, glancing from Jane's tattoo to her face to her shirt. “Are you Eleven? Like, _the_ Eleven?”

Jane blushed. “Yeah. Why?”

Max gaped at her. “Just.. oh my gosh..The Upside Down is like the best band of all time..oh my gosh..I can't believe I'm meeting you!”

Jane (Eleven) smiled bashfully. “Thank you.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Oh I'm sorry. I need to go. See you around, sometime?”

Max was too floored by the fact that  _ Eleven _ , lead singer of Max's favorite band and certainly the most beautiful woman Max had seen in a  _ looong  _ time had just said “see you around sometime” to even stutter out a “goodbye” before Jane is out the door with her coffee.

“Fuck,” murmurs Max. “Fuck.”

It's been a week since Max first met Jane. A week of getting up on time and putting on nice clothes in hopes that she'll see Jane again. She's just beginning to loose hope when she hears the door open.

She looks up from her book (different one than last time, this one a little more interesting).

And there she is. Jane Hopper, also known as Eleven, with her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and a black tank top, and  _ fuck she somehow looks even better.  _ It even looks like she's put on some makeup.

Four people have come in behind her, and Max realizes with a start it's the rest of the band. They look a bit different, off-stage, but she can still recognize them fine.

Dustin Henderson. Drum player. Big curly hair with a baseball cap failing to keep it contained. He's arguing with another man, one who must be...

Lucas Sinclair. Guitar player. He definitely looks different off-stage, without his signature bandana and face paint. They're arguing about...The Lord of the Rings, it sounds like. “Dude, it was from the  _ Hobbit!”  _ “But it doesn't matter!” “Yes it does!”

In behind them are two more men, one tall and lanky, with an arm lazily draped over the smaller man's shoulders.  _ That must be Mike Wheeler,  _ Max thinks to herself. The smaller man has a  _ bowl cut _ Max notices.  _ Oh that's definitely Will Byers, _ she thinks.

As they walk up to the counter, the small man (Will) leans up and stage-whispers into Jane's ear,  _ “Is that the cute barista you were talking about?” _

Jane turns bright red, which seems to satisfy Will, who grins and wraps an arm around Mike's waist and whisper something into his ear. Mike grins and snickers.

Meanwhile, Max is still standing behind the counter, trying very hard not to blush, and failing miserably.

“Wow,” she says, unable to help herself. “I can't believe you're all here! You're like, my favorite band ever!”

Jane blushes again, Mike grins, and Will smiles rather shyly. “Thank you.”

“So, what can I get you guys?” Max asks.

“How about your name?” asks Will. He smiles rather gleefully at Jane, who turns red again.

“Oh—I—um, it's Max,” she finally stutters out.

“And some coffee,” adds Mike, rolling his eyes.

After making everyone's coffee, Jane walks up to Max. “Hey, um, I hope this isn't too weird, but, um, wouldyoumaybewanttogooutforcoffeesometime,” she says, running the words together.

Max gapes for a few seconds before she manages to snap her jaw shut and answer, “Yeah, sure! I'll give you my phone number.” Max quickly jots down her number on the back of the receipt and hands it to Jane. “Text me?”

Jane takes it, looking like she's about to pass out, takes the receipt. “Definitely,” she says, giving Max a smile.

They stand there and look at each other for a moment before Mike says, “Well, we'd better get going!”

Jane seemingly snaps out of her trance and says, “Oh—yeah, right. Um, bye Max!” she waves as she goes to the door. “See you later!”

“Bye!” Max calls back.

Max couldn't stop grinning for the rest of the day. Because  _ fucking Jane Hopper asked her out for coffee.  _

_ Best. Day. Ever.  _ Max thinks.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! Pretty proud of this! Only my second fanfic ever, and probably should have slept instead, but I had a good idea. If anyone has found any mistakes feel free to let me know!  
>  Not really sure how I wrote this in an hour. It's probably a product of me eating too much candy and listening to Can't feel my face by The Weeknd on repeat. Or maybe it"s something else.   
>  See you next time I decide to write something....  
>  Byeeeeeee ;D


End file.
